It's fairly light - prompted by a gastropub lunch that was anything but light.

Anyway, the dubious meal starts with getting some rice on to cook and some brocolli prepped to steam over it. And then there's a sauce to make - very iffy I think - veg stock, a couple of tablespoons of ketchup, juice of a lemon, couple cloves of crushed garlic. It simmers until thick and a good coating consistency. When all that is ready to serve up, some prawns get 2 or 3 minutes in a hot pan to cook through and are then stirred into the sauce.

And, if it's vile, there's always a cheese and onion sandwich to be made.

Reposting from the old thread where I was a minute or two behind the times.

Last night I finally made the sausage, peppers and mashed potatoes I meant to make last week before life intervened. Good thing sausage freezes so well. Tonight I have flounder filets from my fish share. They posted a recipe wherein you saute lightly floured filets and then make a brown butter to which you add fresh orange juice and lemon juice. The OJ sounds just awful to me but maybe brown butter with lemon and capers. Or brown butter with almonds and parsley. And there's some nice lacinto kale I need to use up. Other ideas very welcome!!!

My diet so rarely includes European foods that I can never satisfy my craving for Koenigsberger Klopse or sauce meuniere, the two uses I ever have for capers. So I'm with you: capers, brown butter and lemon all the way.

OK, capers tonight, I promise!! Last night I got stuck late at work, raced to pick up the fish, screeched into the doggie daycare on the dot of 6:30 when they close (all in torrential rain) and then hit a way deep scary puddle on the highway home so there was obviously only one thing on my mind once I had poured a glass of wine: pasta. So it was shells, leeks, greens, cream, garlic, lemon juice and some of the fish cut into bite-sized pieces and stirred in for the last couple of minutes. Very tasty. But it will be capers tonight....

:) Ina! I did it and it was wonderful. For some reason the phrase "frizzled capers" was stuck in my mind (from this thread, maybe?) so when the butter was nearly brown I dropped the capers in to frizzle. Worth the couple of splatter burns my wrist took. Served roasted brussels sprouts from the nearby farm and a couple of tiny red potatoes I threw in the the b.s.

I think I've only had piccata once and it was one of the abominations in NYC's Little Italy that turned me off to Italian food. It's been such a long time since I've had it, that I admit I had to look up what piccata is and it sounds like an Italian sauce meunière. I could definitely go for that.

Piccata was something that I always saw ordered by my dad at our local Italian dump growing up. It looked to me like chicken covered in vaseline. But it is ridiculously easy (and cheap) to crank out at home. I have a little hunch that you might really like it when you are in charge of quality control!

I love capers. Last night was a pasta 'sauce' of sundried toms, capers, garlic, red wine vinegar and some of the oil from the toms blitzed in the mini food processor. Cooked up some chicken and red pepper and then tossed with pasta, the sauce and some black olives. Heaven!

A visit from a niece from California, a rainy day, and a 5lb can of beautiful DOP San Marzanos prompted me to make a pot of sauce with meatballs and sausage. We will have a mixed green salad after the spaghetti and meatballs, followed by a drunken apple cake for dessert:http://leitesculinaria.com/52537/reci...It is currently cooling on a rack and smelling divine.

Everyone liked it, ate it happily, but didn't love it. They prefer the apple cake I usually make, and since I just took my DH and son to the airport, I will probably be bringing it to the club tomorrow to give to Katja for her koffee klatch.

Inspired by you, I made linguini marinara and hot Italian sausages last night. Doubt it was anywhere near as good as a Siciliana can make, but was tasty. (IS's were from Fresh Direct and could have been better, they were almost as tight-textured as a hot dog. WTH?) Baby arugula salad with and I even ate some (had snarfed a bunch of the tomatoes from the Redpack can cold so I figured that was my veg).Tonight is leftover Cornish hens I cooked last Saturday night (was tiddly and the preparation is not worth recounting here, but we did enjoy the foie gras before and our guest liked the hens) - with mashed and salad.

I made this for my husband once, not this particular recipe, but one with hot sausages and meatballs. I normally don't get excited about sausage, but this was sooo good. The sauce incredible, I'll have to check this recipe out, your dinner sounds wonderful and one the dh would flip for.